


Beneath the Star-Speckled Sky

by writingbychelle



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 18:16:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingbychelle/pseuds/writingbychelle
Summary: After defeating the Darkling, Nikolai invites his most trusted friends and advisers on a journey to strengthen Ravka’s alliances, or maybe it’s just an excuse to spend time with you?





	Beneath the Star-Speckled Sky

You could feel the springs of the thin mattress underneath you digging into your back as you tried to keep your slow breathing consistent, deep breaths causing your chest to rise and fall as you pretended to be asleep, hoping Zoya would finally drift off herself. 

Upon setting foot on the Hummingbird, the schooner you were currently on, you had hoped you could share a cabin with Genya or maybe Nadia, who both happened to fall into a deep sleep quite quickly but after Genya paired up with her boyfriend David, and Nadia choose to share a room with Tamar you had to settle for Zoya. It wasn’t like you didn’t like Zoya, you actually found yourself enjoying her snarky attitude but your skin was starting to itch with the need to jump out of your bed and run to the deck of the schooner. Outside you could hear the soft sloshing of the waves against the hull, the gentle rocking back and forth caused you to crave the sweet abyss of sleep to embrace you but still, you kept fighting the heaviness of your eyelids until quiet snoring finally echoed off the wooden walls. 

Slowly you slid out from underneath your blankets, tiptoeing towards the door only to stop dead in your tracks when you stepped on a creaky floorboard. Holding your breath you tried to listen to any sounds that might indicate that Zoya had woken up but after continuing to hear her deep breathing you continued your way through the schooner and to the deck where the cold wind of the night bit into your skin, nearly making you turn around and crawl back into your warm bed. Before your sleepy mind got to make that decision for you, you spotted the familiar outline of the reason why you had forced yourself to stay awake in the first place. Step after step you made your way towards the cockpit of the ship. Once reaching your destination you tightly wrapped your arms around the man standing in front of the ship’s wheel, golden hair reflecting the pale moonlight as he placed his right hand over yours, interlacing your fingers with his above his teal frock coat. Pressing your face against his broad back you tried, and failed, to stifle a yawn, your eyes staying closed as you rested your cheek against the soft material of his coat, your body moving in sync with his breathing.

“Tired?” his smooth voice caused you to open your eyes once again only to see the teasing look on his face as he gazed over his shoulder.

Nodding your head you mumbled a quiet “mhm” before you tightened your arms around his waist once again, trying to take in as much of his warmth as possible.

“You know,” Nikolai hummed softly, “you don’t have to come here every single night, yes?”

“I’m very well aware. But it’s the only time we are actually alone for once.”

Wordlessly the young man lifted up his left arm, indicating for you make your way to his front, pressing your back against it, his muscular arms building a cage around you while his chin rested on your shoulder, his warmth engulfing you just like the smell of him that you knew so well from all those joyful nights spent together, his scent lingering on your pillow the next morning when you woke up to see him gone.

After a few moments of comfortable silence that passed between you, it was you who interrupted it first, “Who knew the notorious pirate Sturmhond could be so romantic?”

You shot a teasing smile over your shoulder to which Nikolai responded with a playful roll of his eyes.

“I’m a privateer, my dear, not a pirate,” he corrected you, turning his head to press a quick kiss against your cheek.

“So…where exactly are you taking us anyway? You haven’t said anything about our destination the entire time we’ve been away.”

“Well, since you’re asking so nicely, we’re going to Novyi Zem.”

Leaning your head back, you snuggled closer to your King, “Really? I’ve never been there before.”

“Oh, you’re going to love it. This time of the year it’s nice and warm, the people are always nice as long as you don’t offer them a bad deal for their jurda or their splendid firearms.” 

You could almost hear the dreamy smile in Nikolai’s voice, causing you to slightly turn around to face the man you fell in love with.

“And there it is. Firearms, huh?” you asked with a teasing smirk on your lips.

“Yes, firearms. After everything that happened in the last few…years, basically, we’ll need everything we can get to defend our country.”

Humming to yourself you turned back around, training your eyes on the star-speckled sky above you as you tried to use your little knowledge to try and determine some sense of where the fuck you were.

“Let’s not talk about politics right now, we should probably do that while the others are around. You said something about nice and warm weather?”

“Oh yes, imagine the sun in a bright blue sky, the heat warming your skin, the birds chirping and the smell of jurda plants around you. You should probably also prepare to drink a lot since it’s getting quite hot around noon.”

“Really? It’s quite hard to think about the sun and sweating when I’m currently freezing my ass off,” you laughed, your body shivering involuntarily as if to make a point.

“And such a glorious ass it is,” Nikolai mumbled into your ear, before pressing a kiss against your neck and playfully letting one of his hands wander down and grab a handful of the part of your body you had been previously talking about, only for you to swat at his hand, letting out a cheerful laugh that echoed into the night.

The next morning, when you sat down at the small dining table in the cramped eating hall of the schooner you couldn’t help but notice the thoughtful look Zoya send you every time she looked in your direction, squinting her eyes as if she knew something you didn’t, which wasn’t a necessarily rare occurrence.

Placing your spoon of porridge down into the bowl again you turned to look at the Grisha you shared your cabin with, “Do I have something on my face or why do you keep looking at me like you’re not sure if you should strangle me or throw me over the rail?”

“Well…I was ready to not bring it up but since you insist. Where exactly did you sneak off to last night?” Zoya asked while leaning her head into her hands, her elbows resting on the dining table in front of her.

‘Alright, (Y/N)’, you thought to yourself, ‘Play dumb.’

“Uh, what?”

'Maybe not that dumb’, you mentally scolded yourself.

“Oh, yeah, I heard you when you left our cabin last night. You’re not as lightfooted as you think you are, (Y/N),” Zoya smirked at you, the teasing twinkle in her eyes giving away just how much she was enjoying this right now.

Forcing yourself to chuckle at the Squaller’s words, “Right, that. I just felt a bit nauseous, that was all. And I didn’t think you’d appreciate me throwing up all over our cabin so I went outside to get some fresh air.”

Nadia squinted her eyes at you suspiciously, tilting her head to her right as she seized you up, “Somehow I’m not quite believing that.”

“Well,” you said while standing up, desperate to escape the inquisitory eyes of your friends and fellow Grisha, “It’s the truth, Nadia, I get seasick all the time, I just never told anyone about it.”

And with that, you took your bowl of rapidly cooling porridge and made your way back onto the deck, hoping the finish your breakfast in peace while the eyes of your friends followed you out the room, unspoken words hanging between them.

“We all know that this was a complete lie, right?” Genya asked into her cup before taking another sip of the hot and way too sweet tea.

Tamar nodded at the question, “She’s been travelling with Nikolai, Sturmhond whatever, for ever. If she’d get seasick there would be no way she would’ve voluntarily stepped aboard another ship.”

“So we can all agree on the fact that she’s hiding something from us. We just need to find out what,” Zoya concluded, determined to find out what you were doing outside of your cabin late at night.

That evening, when you were laying in your bed, the springs of the mattress poking your back once again, you found yourself in the same situation you had been all those nights before: waiting for Zoya to finally fall asleep just so you could sneak out to spend some time alone with your boyfriend. Despite being the King, Nikolai still volunteered to take the night shifts at the steering wheel, blaming it on the fact that he was a good navigator and that the night air helped him to sort out his thoughts when in reality he was holding you in his arms, pressing kisses against your skin while talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

You had been in a relationship with the blonde man for quite a while now but with the Darkling trying to gain power over Ravka and a literal civil war happening you had chosen to not tell anyone about the fact that Nikolai and you were dating. 

Deep breaths from above you interrupted your thoughts, causing you to let out a sigh in relief, happy to be able to finally sneak on deck and spend time with the golden-haired King. Speeding up the stairs as quietly as possible you quickly found yourself with your back pressed against Nikolai’s chest, his arms wrapped around you and his face pressed into the crook of your neck, his hair tickling your skin as he left feather light kisses up and down your neck. Just as you wanted to turn around to finally press your lips together you caught the flash of something reflecting the moonlight at the top of the staircase that led to the deck you were standing on causing you to stop in your motion. Following your gaze, Nikolai squinted his eyes at the shadows of the staircase, letting out a sigh in defeat once he spotted the same thing you had.

“I can’t believe it,” you mumbled, slightly irritated even though you knew it was only a matter of time someone was going to catch you and Nikolai. Especially when those someones were Genya and Zoya, together with Nadia, Tamar, Tolya and David.

“You can come out, we know you’re there,” Nikolai shouted, releasing you from his hold but keeping one of his arms wrapped loosely around your waist.

Slowly and one by one your friends crept out of their hiding spot and made their way over to where you were standing, next to the steering wheel of the Hummingbird.

Locking her arms in front of her chest, Zoya raised her eyebrows at you before turning around to the others, “See? I told you there was something going on.”

“You just didn’t expect it’d be with Nikolai?” Nadia teased the raven-haired Squaller.

Mumbling some incomprehensible words before turning her back to you and walking back towards what you could only assume was the cabin you shared with her. 

But before she made her way below decks, Zoya briefly turned around one more time, shouting, “You can stay with Nikolai so you won’t interrupt my sleep again”, over her shoulder with a teasing smirk just to disappear into the shadows.

Tamar raised an eyebrow at you, her eyes flickering to the hand Nikolai had placed on your waist, “So…How long has this been going on?”

“Oh, for quite a while now. We just figured we wouldn’t want to break any hearts by announcing our relationship,” Nikolai explained playfully, chuckling lightly as you swatted at his hand after he began to slowly move his fingers up and down your side, tickling you in the process.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Right underneath our noses,” Genya exclaimed, throwing her arms up before making her way over to you, wrapping an arm on your shoulder and throwing a knowing look in your direction. After all, she had known about your not so small crush on Nikolai ever since you first met her in the Little Palace.

“So…now that we know, I suggest we all head back to bed?” David yawned, rubbing his tired eyes.

“Good idea,” Nadia agreed, grabbing Tamar’s hand and dragging her back towards the stairs and the cabin they shared, the rest of your friends following the two Grisha, Genya throwing one last teasing wink over her shoulder before she pressed herself into the side of her boyfriend.

"Well, no need to hide anymore.“

Turning towards Nikolai you opened your mouth to reply but before you got to say anything you felt a pair of slightly chapped lips against your own. Instinctively you reached up and wrapped your arms around his neck, interlocking your fingers at the nape of his neck as your lips melted together under the clear, star-speckled night sky.


End file.
